The legal control of drunken driving: A comment on methodological concerns in assessing deterrent effectiveness

Appearing in this volume are papers by Votey and Phillips, Ray, and Votey that raise basic questions about the effectiveness of efforts to reduce drunken driving through legal controls implemented in the criminal justice system. The primary issues of extent, source, and duration of any effect are raised by those authors. This paper discusses the concern for deterrence expressed by Phillips, et al., and particularly focuses on some methodological problems in demonstrating the deterrent effectiveness of criminal sanctions on drunken driving.